“Let’s go have dinner. We can talk about this on the way home.”
I kept her hand in mine and led us from the room. The scent of Mom’s cooking permeated the house and it smelled delicious, my stomach growling as we made our way back toward the dining room. As soon as we walked in, all eyes were on us. While Dad and Miller pretended to be talking about something else and Samuel flicked through the newspaper, Aunt Veronica watched as I settled Elena into a chair and fetched her glass of wine before wrapping her arm around my bicep, bringing her mouth to my ear.
“Ashton, can I talk to you for one second?”
I pulled my lips between my teeth and bit down. I was afraid to leave Elena alone again. Space to think was dangerous. The more you gave her, the easier she found it to retreat. But I knew Aunt Veronica wouldn’t have asked unless it was important. I turned to Elena. “Will you be okay?”
She gave me an uneasy smile. “I’ll be fine.”
“I'll be back in a minute.” I felt bad. After all, this was the second time I’d left her alone since we’d arrived. I let Aunt Veronica lead me from the room. The second we made it to the living room she pointed to a chair.
“Sit.”
Suddenly, I felt like one of my dad’s customers. My aunt was glaring at me, eyes hard. There was a right and a wrong way to approach her. If I got caught yelling, there was no doubt I’d get my ass kicked. On the other hand, I didn’t feel like dealing with her bullshit. It was completely irrational for me to be mad at her. She’d done exactly what I’d asked. But seeing just how upset Elena was, I had a hard time controlling myself. Crossing my arms over my chest I stayed rooted to the spot, watching her, waiting for her to explain what was so important. A brief moment passed in silence.
“What do you want?” My tone was clipped, and although I knew somewhere in the back of my head she didn’t deserve it, my mind was on Elena. I wanted this done with, and fast.
“Don’t start with me, Ashton. You and I are going to have a little talk about Elena. So sit.” She pointed at the couch and then at me and I raised a brow. When, again, she didn’t elaborate, I grew frustrated.
“You’re being ridiculous. I’m going back in there.”
“You’ll never get her if you don’t listen to me,” she called to my back and I stopped in my tracks.
She had me by the balls. If I wanted Elena in my bed, I needed to understand what kept her tied to Tolley, and to do that I had two options: the long way, where I did all the groundwork myself; or the shortcut, where I listened to whatever knowledge Aunt Veronica had to impart and used it to my advantage. I paused for a beat. My dad was right: three months was not a lot of time. Perhaps there was mileage in listening to my aunt. I turned back toward her and lifted my chin.
“You have my attention.”
Her eyes darted to the couch and back to me. She was a stubborn character. If I wanted to know, I had to play by her rules. I took a seat on the couch and she sat across from me, wine glass clutched in her hand.
“What have you done with Elena since she came to stay with you?”
Weird question. “Sent her to the spa, took her to dinner—”
“When you took her to dinner, did you mention anything about the way she looked?”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Yes, I told her she looked gorgeous.”
“That’s it?”
“Jesus Christ.” I started to stand up. “What else am I supposed to say? She looked great, I told her.”
“You told her you want her?” she countered, and my head snapped to hers.
“That I what?”
She chuckled and pressed a hand to my leg, pushing my back down onto the couch. She took her time, taking a sip of her wine, and giving my leg a squeeze.
“Well?”
“You’re so clueless. Everyone in the house figured it out the moment you walked through the door. You want her, and if you want my help getting her, you’d better keep your ass in that seat and listen.”
“You do realize there aren’t many people who’d have the balls to talk to me this way, right?”
“Cut the crap, Ashton. I learned from the best. Your think your father is good at the big, bad boss routine? Hah! I learned from your grandfather. Now there was a man who took shit from no one. David was lucky Dad passed away before we married. Now stay where you are and don’t get up until I tell you to.”
I leaned back in my seat and waited, my silence speaking volumes, and when she was satisfied that I was staying, she began again.
“Now, you haven’t answered my question. Have you told her you want her?”
I sighed and lifted my eyes to the ceiling. “No. If she wants to be in my bed she’s got to be there because she wants to—not because it’s something to do with her husband’s debt.”
“For a smart guy, you can be an absolute idiot.”
“What?” I growled.
“Earlier tonight, you told her that kissing her was a mistake.”
“I did not,” I answered quickly.
Her eyebrows rose. “Oh really? That’s not what Elena told me.”
I shook my head, racking my brain for my exact words. “I think I said . . . shit.” My eyes focused on hers. “I said, ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’ That’s not what I meant though.”
“That doesn’t matter, Ashton. You have to remember that for the last five years, she’s heard she’s unattractive, that no man besides him would ever want her. You pulling away and saying you shouldn’t have done that only confirmed to her that her husband spoke the truth.”
“Shit. Fuck!”
My head throbbed from the discussion. There were so many things I couldn’t do, or that I should be doing. It was like a minefield. One thing was for certain: that fucker was going to pay for all he’d done to Elena. “That wasn’t my goal.”
“I know.” She smiled. “You can help her more than you know. I understand your reasoning.”
Aunt Veronica didn’t understand as much as she thought. If she knew my tastes didn’t exactly run in the mainstream, she might understand my caution. Elena had been through so much already, Could I really subject her to the possibility of more damage? Could she handle the things I enjoyed?
“You need to show her she’s desirable. I don’t know about Elena’s husband, but David frequently withdrew affection. Take her places, put your hands on her. Don’t just tell her she’s beautiful—show her. You want to her to be strong enough to choose to be in your bed, then make her feel like she can stand on her own two feet. She sits around your house all day doing nothing, right?”
“She’s worked hard enough.”
“And when her three months with you are up, where is she going to go? What will she do?”
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
In truth, I didn’t want to. The time with Elena had been refreshing, not anything like I was used to. She was smart and witty. That wasn’t all, I was different around her. The man I always wanted to be. She might be sexy as hell, but she wasn’t an empty shell, like so many of the women I met over the years. Our time together already seemed so short. I didn’t want to wish it away.
Aunt Veronica watched me, and it would seem that without me even voicing my thoughts, she understood where my mind was going. “Elena will never give Dominic up if she feels she can’t stand on her own two feet. She said she met her husband in high school. Do you know what she was studying?”